Electronic Medical Records Examples for Different Purposes

I’ve met a lot of doctors over the past years and I get asked this pretty regularly:

“Can you show me examples of electronic medical records in use? I want to understand how it can benefit me.”

I’m still surprised by the number of new doctors that ask this.

I’ve met doctors who have trained overseas: they saw how doctors use systems to easily communicate, retrieve information and coordinate. I’ve met with doctors who trained under consultants who used an EMR system so they saw the great benefits of electronic records.

A big majority though, have never even touched nor seen one and it’s amazing that it’s not even a standard.

There’s a misconception in the industry that EMR’s will slow you down, make things impersonal and so on. Yet if you think about it, the “cons” of having an EMR system are trivial and have been addressed by today’s technology. In short, the benefits greatly outweigh the cons now.

This post aims to show just a glimpse of how an EMR system can help you in your medical practice.

Patient History

In one glance, you have a summary of your patient’s most important information even before he comes into the room to see you. This allows you prepare, diagnose more accurately, prescribe medicines based on their allergies, figure out the right dosage and more. You’ll even have time to remember who they are by looking at the picture.

Patient’s Historical Lab Results

Easily review the lab/diagnostic results of your patients without the piles and piles of records. I’m sure you’ve encountered the need for this and asked why there’s no better solution. There is and you are looking at it.

Patient’s SOAP/Notes

Review your notes with ease. Are you the type of doctor who loves to see your complete SOAP notes? Then you can add as much information as you want to! Are you the type who likes to keep things short but prefer things to be organized? Then you really need to switch to an EMR.

Patient’s Prescriptions

Create and review prescriptions when you need to. Ever forgot what you prescribed to a patient last time he visited? Ever wanted to just prescribe it again? Did your patient just lose their prescription and they are now asking you for a copy but you are outside your clinic? You have an answer for all of those if you are using an EMR system. See how cool, useful and convenient it is?

Explaining to Patients

Ever wanted to explain something to a patient easily by showing a diagram? You’ve probably encountered a patient who would self-diagnose and even go against your advice. Having an EMR can easily help you show your patients what you are talking about and get things done faster without offending the other patient. Win-win.

Examples Can Only Do So Much

Ever wanted to refer a patient and send important details with a touch of a button?

Ever wondered what you’ll do if your secretary is absent?

What if your paper files are piled up so high up to the ceiling?

What if your clinic is full of boxes of old paper records and then suddenly a patient comes in? How will you and your secretary ever find his file?

There’s so much more that I can show you but showing examples can only help so much. You need to see it in action and use it in your practice to be able to see the full benefits.

If you are still making excuses to stop yourself from switching, think about how your practice will benefit, how your patients can be served better and how at the end of the day, you are in full control, which leads you to having more time for you, your family and your hobbies.

Take the next step, thousands of other Filipino doctors have, it’s your turn to join them.